


shakira shakira

by the_original_starfruit



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: College AU, F/F, Fluff, Human AU, One Shot, Romance, a lil bit frisky humorwise, god there's so much fluff, some gay shit i needed to get outta my system
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-18
Updated: 2017-04-18
Packaged: 2018-10-20 16:25:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10666422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_original_starfruit/pseuds/the_original_starfruit
Summary: Peridot doesn't go to clubs. She is a busy college student, a double major in fact, and would rather be studying, writing her research papers, or holed up in her room watching Camp Pining Hearts. She most definitely doesn't dance.Then Amethyst drags her to a club, where a certain black-haired stranger has different ideas.





	shakira shakira

**Author's Note:**

> hey hey friendos 
> 
> this is just a quick idea i had the other night and i decided to take a (very short!) break from writing nalu
> 
> enjoy your gay

The club was a squat building on the corner of the street. Gray, blocky and unassuming from the outside; only the inside betrayed it, the flashes of pink, orange, blue strobe lights that pulsed through the open door. That and the bass thudding so loudly she could feel it in the soles of her feet.

     “Amethyst,” Peridot said in exasperation, “I _really_ don’t want to do this.”

Her friend turned to her and smirked.

     “C’ _mon,_ P-dot, you don’t really just wanna sit in a tiny dorm every Friday night, do ya?” She nudged Peridot playfully in the ribs with a soft brown elbow. “This is part of the college _experience.”_

     Peridot snorted, feeling her sarcasm rise to the surface.

“Yeah, sure. This, smoking weed, and passing out wasted at some frat party so a bunch of drunken man-children with more muscle mass than brain capacity can draw dicks on your face.”

     Amethyst burst out into a peal of raucous laughter.

“I mean, true, but it’s not like you speak from experience,” Amethyst said teasingly, reaching up to flick her voluminous purple hair out of her eye. “It’s time ya learn to live a little. Or at least try to. If it’s not your scene, we’ll just split early.”

     Peridot sighed, wishing that Amethyst’s strange, carefree brand of logic didn’t occasionally make sense.

     “Besides,” Amethyst leaned in, “You might actually meet someone _cute_.”

Peridot sputtered, but they were already at the door. The bouncer glanced at them skeptically, one eyebrow raised as he took in Peridot’s height. She glared.

     Then Amethyst nudged forward. He recognized her, apparently, as she flipped a fake ID out of her back pocket.

     “She’s with me,” Amethyst said, and they were nodded forward.

“What’d I tell ya,” she muttered smugly, “mad street cred. My name opens _doors._ ”

    Rolling her eyes, Peridot opened her mouth to reply, but was quickly drowned out. She gaped a little as they pushed through a knot of people into the heart of the club.

     By her estimate, there were a few hundred people packed into the space, mostly college students dancing, chattering, laughing. A bar was at the opposite end of the room, with people lined up to watch a handful of boys shout and cheer inaudibly as one of their number downed shots. The noise was unbearable – between the blur of a hundred different conversations and the music that blasted through a pair of speakers mounted on the opposite wall, Peridot thought it was very likely her eardrums would fracture, collapsing in on themselves. The lighting undulated wildly, spinning and thrashing through a succession of different colors, thrown by a disco ball and several rows of ceiling lights onto the walls and dance floor.

     Amethyst patted her on the back once, then raised her hand, called out to someone, and disappeared into the crowd.

 “Wh – no, _wait!_ ” Peridot said, almost unable to hear her own voice. She started shoving through the crowd, but Amethyst was gone in a second.

     _Great,_ she thought caustically. _What am I supposed to do now?_

She folded her arms and stood awkwardly on the edge of the dance floor. She could go dance, but she was rather self-conscious, felt like her movements were uncoordinated and jerky, and the people dancing here were _good,_ shaking their hair and moving their hips in a way Peridot knew she could never get away with.

     The DJ, a tall, spindly boy with white hair, put his arm up. A new song started in a blast of trumpets, a tune she unfortunately recognized from her time in Amethyst’s car.

     “ _Hips Don’t Lie,_ really? Are we in middle school?” she muttered as a cheer went up through the crowd, people moving with renewed passion.

     A few seconds into the song, though, she had to admit it was catchy. Nodding along to the beat without realizing, she noticed a circle forming in the middle of the floor, people leaving off dancing themselves to watch and cheer.

     Curious, Peridot stood on her tiptoes, cursing her height.

 _Probably just some kid breakdancing,_ she thought, then in spite of herself started to slip through the crowd.

     She reached the edge of the circle, poking her head through the wall of people. There was a flash of movement, and her jaw dropped, the bass thudding in her teeth.

     The girl in the center of the floor wasn’t breakdancing. She was in perfect sync with the music, almost _was_ the music – not just her hips but her whole body was rotating, beautiful, as she spun and stepped as fast as lightning, her arms twisting and turning above her head. Every part of her was flowing from one moment to another, each beat resounding in her movements. She seemed to almost be floating, somehow both graceful as a bird and smooth and heavy as a panther, glowing in the attention and the flooding lights. Peridot felt a heat in her stomach, and her whole face flushed under her wide eyes. The girl’s slim waist rotated, seeming almost unattached from her bare shoulders where an elaborate tattoo spread wings of ink over her smooth skin, and Peridot could see her belly button every time she threw her arms up, sleeveless crop top lifting, and dear god were those high-waisted shorts _leather?_

The dancer turned to face the other side of the circle, and Peridot’s heart skipped in a momentary arrhythmia. Her face was heart-shaped, as delicately tapered as her limbs, her messy black bob reflective as a raven’s wing and shining almost blue in the disco lights. Her gaze skipped over the crowd, stopping suddenly to settle on Peridot’s face, and they locked eyes.

     Peridot’s breath hitched.

A mischievous grin transformed the girl’s mouth, and _oh my stars she’s coming over,_ she was twirling over to where Peridot stood paralyzed, movements still flawless and uninterrupted.

     She was _there,_ and she was grabbing both Peridot’s hands before there was time to panic, and everything was hot and confusing and another cheer went up from the crowd, peppered with claps and wolf-whistles as she was pulled onto the dance floor.

     “I - I can’t d-dance,” Peridot stuttered, distracted by the girl’s hands, fingers new and warm on her wrists, and the girl spun her around and leaned in –

     “Pretend you can,” she said, laughter in her voice, and she wriggled her hips –

Peridot swallowed and started to move. The girl lifted her arms up to the music, quick but gentle, and then it started to seem strangely natural as she got up the courage to move her hips, easy circles.

     She was facing the girl now, who was at least a head taller than her, looking down and raising her eyebrows.

     “I’m Lapis,” she said, her voice was breathy with exertion, and she was smiling, her nose wrinkled a little bit, and _fuck_ Peridot felt her step falter.

     “Hey, Lapis,” she said as smoothly as she could, _oh_ she hadn’t meant for that to be as flirtatious as it sounded, and she was just thankful she didn’t stutter.

     Lapis grinned and suddenly let go, twirling around to give Peridot a brief brush with her – oh _god_ – and she felt feverish as Lapis faced her again, her feet were bare and almost skipping in place, matching Peridot’s jagged breathing.

     “Are you gonna tell me who you are?” she asked leaning close again, dragging her hand up Peridot’s side.

     She swallowed thickly.

“My name’s Peridot, I’m majoring in engineering and molecular physics, and – “ she stopped to take a breath, why did she chatter when she was nervous, this isn’t what people expected or wanted when they picked someone up to dance with, “ – I never knew coming to a club could be such a decidedly positive experience.”

     Lapis snorted, hips twirling, and rolled her eyes.

“Not always,” she said, “packs of drunk, gropey catcalling bastards sort of put a damper on the fun.”

     Peridot exhaled in a brief huff of laughter, trying not to betray how out of breath she was.

     “What made you choose me over all the viable drunk catcallers?” she asked.

Lapis grinned, her teeth white in the semidark.

     “Honestly? I’d rather be eaten alive by a starving flock of vultures than dance with a boy again.”

     Peridot blinked, bemused, then laughed again.

“Good to know I rank just above the vultures,” she teased, and the dancing was easier as she fell into the rhythm of the banter and the music.

     Lapis raised her eyebrows and leaned in close.

“Actually,” her lips brushed Peridot’s ear, “cute girls rank pretty much over everyone else.”

     Lapis took her hand as the song ended in a final flourish. Peridot was helpless as she was spun gallantly, Lapis ending the twirl by pulling her close with ease of practice. Their chests rose and fell, quick and steady with the exhaustion of dancing.

     The crowd roared and cheered, but Peridot barely registered the noise. The world seemed to go muffled, if not exactly silent - she felt she was underwater because of how hard she was struggling to breathe –

     _Just kiss her,_ her brain was screaming, and before she could think about it anymore, Peridot acted. She twisted around in Lapis’s arms, put both hands up to her face, and stood on the tips of her toes.

     Her mouth was warm and yielding, tasted of whiskey and hard moonlight. Peridot closed her eyes for courage as Lapis’s arms tightened around her waist, and they sank into it.

     Lapis opened her mouth, swiping her tongue through with all the self-satisfaction of a cat licking up cream. A fire was burning low in Peridot’s stomach, disturbing an unnoticed kaleidoscope of butterflies with its heat. She suddenly became aware that she was making a sound, a long wavering _hhmmm_ into Lapis’s mouth, and she flushed darkly, pulling away before she did something she’d regret – like possibly straddling Lapis in the middle of a crowded dance floor and climbing her like a honey tree.

     “Wow,” Lapis breathed after a pause, brushing a curling bit of hair off Peridot’s face, “you’re a whole lot of fun for an engineering major.”

     Peridot grinned shyly.

“I’ll take that as a compliment and not a criticism of my choice in education.”

     The next song had started, a significantly calmer beat, and people were starting to move again, pushing them towards the edge of the dance floor in a living tide.

     “You’re a pretty good dancer, actually,” Lapis said, putting her hands on Peridot’s waist and starting to rock back and forth to the music.

     Peridot cleared her throat, the blush fading from her cheeks.

“Thanks, but I’m, ah, kinda danced out.”

     Lapis nodded, her hands dropping. Peridot immediately missed their warmth.

“Let’s go outside then? It’s really loud in here anyway.”

     Peridot nodded, let the other girl grab her hand and tug her through the crowds, navigating easily through gaps and around clumps of people. They shoved through a metal door at the back of the building.

     The quiet was almost deafening after the music. A chorus of crickets sang and buzzed in the weeds that grew tall next to the building’s corner. Lapis sank to sit on the shallow concrete step, pulling Peridot down with her. The stars were bright, managing to glitter through the city haze like chips of diamond.

     “So,” Peridot said awkwardly after a moment. “I feel like I should, ah…get to know you a bit?” _Considering that we just made out after dancing for approximately three minutes?_

     Lapis snorted with laughter. Peridot could see a sprinkle of freckles across her nose in the streetlamp light.

     “This feels like some sort of really shitty game show,” Lapis said, grinning. _“Kiss A Stranger, Judge Their Life!_ Now on HBO and Netflix!”

     Peridot laughed.

“Clueless contestants are given one night to get to know each other, then quizzed on superficial details such as _favorite color, occupation,_ and _childhood trivia!”_ Lapis was laughing too, her head tossed back carelessly, her smile bright. Peridot grinned and added in her best game-show-host voice, “Winning couple receives prize of one _million_ dollars!”

     Lapis sighed, leaned back on her hands.

“What’s your biggest fear?” she asked casually after a moment of silence, glancing at Peridot from under her messy bangs. Peridot blinked.

     “Wow,” she said, feigning shock. “I thought we’d be starting more like…favorite food.”

     Lapis shook her head.

“Nah. Like you said, that stuff’s superficial. Cut the crap, get straight to the point.”

     Peridot nodded slowly. “Fair enough.” She thought for a minute, the quiet of the night stretching out like warm taffy.

“I…I’m scared of the idea that I’m not good enough,” she said finally. “That everything I do has to be more than everyone else, I have to learn faster, graduate faster, get a better job, or else I’m not worth anything.”

     Lapis shook her head slowly, blowing air out of her cheeks.

“Let me guess - pretty fucked-up family situation?”

     Peridot nodded.

“Yeah. My mom was a huge perfectionist with an abusive streak.”

     Lapis looked over at that.

“Was?”

     Peridot shrugged.

“Still is, as far as I know. I haven’t spoken to her in two years.”

     Lapis nodded. Peridot spoke again before the silence became oppressive.

“That…and horses.”

     Lapis’s head snapped around, and she laughed in surprise.

“Really? Why?” She was grinning like a fox.

     Peridot shuddered.

“They’re _huge._ I don’t trust any animal that could break me in half or step on me by accident without noticing.” She poked Lapis in the shoulder. “Hey! Quit laughing, you clod!”

     Lapis shook, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

“Sorry,” she said eventually. “I guess if I were four foot eight I’d be scared of horses too.”

     _“You –“_ Peridot lunged, pretending to tickle and slap, not hitting Lapis or touching her skin. The taller girl fell backwards dramatically, face stretched in a grin.

     “No – ooooo!” she hiccupped, halfheartedly batting Peridot’s hands away. “The revenge of the chronically miniscule!”

     Peridot sat up, annoyed.

“It’s a growing disorder, actually,” she said, folding her arms.

     Lapis flushed with embarrassment.

“Oh,” she said. “Sorry. I, ah…wow. That was really insensitive.”

     Peridot shrugged, relieved that Lapis didn’t fall over herself to apologize or try to justify her little joke. That was refreshing.

     “It’s fine,” she said. “At least you acknowledged it in a kind of normal way.”

Lapis sat up, not making eye contact as she fluffed her hair. Her shirt was uneven, slipping down on one side. Peridot could see a tan line on her smooth skin.

     She coughed, blushing again.

“What’s your ideal housing situation?” she asked quickly.

     Lapis glanced over.

“None,” she said immediately. “Just a car and a sleeping bag. No furniture, no ties, no nothing. Nowhere to be trapped.”

     Peridot blinked as she considered this.

“Or maybe a huge old barn. Some falling-down, shitty old place I could fix up, with really high ceilings and a hole in the wall so birds can fly in and out.”

     “That sounds cool,” Peridot said, fascinated. “There could be a whole lot of cats, maybe not exactly pets but they’d like _us,_ and we’d bell them – “

     “ – so they couldn’t kill the birds,” Lapis finished enthusiastically. “Do you have a cat?”

     “No. I wish. Roommate’s allergic, and the administrative clods would probably expel me anyway if I tried keeping one in secret.”

     Lapis nodded.

“My turn,” she said happily. “Favorite TV show?”

     Peridot snorted.

 _“That’s_ not superficial at all,” she said sarcastically.

     “Hey, it’s important. How a person chooses entertainment can give deep insight to one’s character.”

     Peridot sighed.

“Fine. But this one’s a little embarrassing.”

     Lapis straightened, giggling.

“If you say it’s that one porn, the one with the cake and the farts –“

     _“What?”_ Peridot whipped around, scandalized. Her face flushed bright red. “No! Stars, what do _you_ do in your spare time?”

     Lapis rolled her eyes.

“Hey, I know some weird people. Anyway. It can’t be that much more embarrassing than being scared of horses.”

     Peridot looked down.

“Okay. It’s, ah… have you ever heard of this weird Canadian soap opera from the eighties? It’s called Camp – “

     “ – Pining Hearts! Camp Pining Hearts?” Lapis interrupted, eyes wide.

“Yes!” Peridot said, equally enthused, “I’ve never met anyone else who’s seen it!”

     “Me neither,” Lapis said, “I mean, there’s a reason for that - most of the reruns on TV are season five, so when people get introduced to it they see total _trash – “_

   “I know! It’s like, come _on,_ the creators couldn’t do better than that _hammocking_ competition? And then there was the whole ‘character arc’ with Paulette –“ Peridot made finger quotes in the air as Lapis interrupted.

     “Whoa whoa whoa. Don’t shit on Paulette, she’s my _favorite_ –“

“Ugh, _what?_ ” Peridot said, disgusted. “She’s whiny and overemotional and takes up so much of Pierre’s time! He’d be _so_ much better off with Percy!”

     Lapis shook her head, eyes wide.

“Nuh uh. Paulette was a feminist _icon_ of eighties TV! Remember in season four, when they all thought the camp was done for because of that wildfire? Who saved the day? Oh right, it was _Paulette!_ And the bear attack in season two? And Percy didn’t outwit the Red Team to win the canoeing competition, did he? Oh right, as I recall, it was – Paulette!”

     Peridot huffed.

“What about the time in season three when her crush on Pierre almost destroyed the social dynamic of the _entire camp?”_ she asked triumphantly, shaking her head. “She’s such an underdeveloped character she’s almost useless! They really only wrote her in to add drama and straight romance. Now, if you consider the subtext between Percy and Pierre – “

     Lapis interrupted the very good point Peridot was about to make.

“Uum, Paulette’s only useless if you view Pierre as the main character. Personally, I think he’s a brat who gets whatever he wants, and Percy’s a jerkwad who overcompensates his lack of brains with masculinity. Paulette’s too good for either of them.”

     Peridot groaned, flopping backwards onto the ground.

“I give up. You’re clearly not prepared to see reason.”

     Lapis grinned.

“Is that a challenge?”

     Peridot glanced over, rough cement scraping the back of her neck.

“Maybe it is,” she said slowly. “I happen to have the entire discography of Camp Pining Hearts in my dorm. If you wanted to –“

     Lapis grinned, sidling over and twisting around so that one hand was planted on either side of Peridot’s torso, effectively cutting off her train of thought while pinning her to the ground.

     “Oh _my,”_ she said softly, with half-lidded eyes. “Are you, perchance, inviting me to your _bedroom?”_

Peridot’s whole face flushed. She sputtered in weak protest as Lapis cackled.

     Her laughter dying down, Lapis just stayed for a moment, hovering above and looking down into Peridot’s face.

     Peridot looked back, heart hammering in her throat. She tried to think of something to say, but her mind was completely blank, a chalkboard wiped clean. Lapis’s eyes were dark, maybe black, but quite possibly an inky blue. She swallowed.

     Lapis bit her lip.

“You know, you don’t seem like the type to come to a club for fun,” she breathed.

     Peridot swallowed.

“I’m really not,” she said, her voice equally quiet, “we have my friend to blame for that.”

   Lapis blinked.

“Not blame,” she said, and she smiled as she leaned down, and it was soft, so soft that Peridot felt her heart burst behind her ribs, “not blame. Thank.”

     She felt like the world was falling, or maybe just spinning in some unknown direction through enormous pink clouds, a great unknown where everything was beautiful. There was nothing more important than the buggy concrete stoop or the girl Peridot kissed under the streetlight and the stars.

     They stumbled back to her dorm long after the last dancers had trickled out the front doors, after they had watched the sun rise in the east, painting the world with the pastel optimism of a new morning.

     Peridot fell into bed beside Lapis, exhausted as the other girl draped a slim arm over her waist. She had never been happier.

     _I’ll have to find Amethyst and thank her later,_ she thought drowsily. Lapis hugged her tighter, knees tucked snugly behind Peridot’s legs.

     Everything was warm. Peridot fell asleep slowly. Her last waking thought was that she never need to go into another club.


End file.
